Roxas said he recalled before that some of the politicians have been aggressively questioning and blocking the expansion of the CCT, or locally known as the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program), with some of them accusing the government of either tolerating the habit of begging of the poor or injecting politics in the program.

“This was being questioned before and was even subjected to investigation while some have threatened to stop its implementation,” said Roxas in an interview after a dialogue with banana growers here.

In fact, Roxas said that during the budget deliberation for the 2016 national budget, the budget for the 4Ps was cut by some P8 billion which resulted in the non-inclusion of additional families that were supposed to benefit from the program. “And all of sudden, they are saying now that they will support the 4Ps, they will continue the 4Ps and they will expand the 4Ps,” said Roxas.